The present disclosure relates to the field of electronic circuits, and specifically to electronic circuits that are vulnerable to damage from electromagnetic interference and electrostatic discharge sources. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to mitigating harm to digital transmissions within electronic circuits caused by electromagnetic interference and electrostatic discharge sources.
Electronic circuits are vulnerable to disruption of normal operation as well as permanent damage from electromagnetic sources and electrostatic discharge sources.
An electromagnetic source produces electromagnetic energy that can damage hardware and/or alter transmitted data. For example, an electromagnetic interference (EMI) can cause transistors to flip (“on” to “off” and vice versa), thus changing the operation of execution units, altering data stored in memory, etc. Furthermore, electromagnetic energy can change bits being transmitted, especially on a high frequency bus, by altering the characteristic of the bits during transmission.
An electrostatic discharge source imposes an electrostatic discharge (ESD) on a circuit. This can cause semiconductors to flip (switch from “on” to “off” and vice versa) and/or can damage the semiconductors by overloading their circuits. Furthermore, an electrostatic discharge can alter bits being transmitted by altering the characteristic of the bits while being transmitted.